Hume: Buck stops with council on bad Orgaworld deal

Councillors really have no one to blame for the far from ideal Orgaworld contract but themselves.

At least, that's the opinion of Councillor Peter Hume, a 22-year veteran around the council table, who professes he "loves" green bin program.

On Tuesday, the day before the audit of the contract will be revealed, he said city staff may be the ones that work behind the scenes and draw up the contract, but the blame game is disingenuous.

"The buck stops with us. We signed that contract, we're accountable for it."

Hume isn't sure why no one asked the seemingly obvious question.

"We should have said 'OK, show us the consulting report. Show us the expert opinion is doable....Did we dig deep enough within the numbers game? Clearly, we didn't. It's a fine between asking the right questions and demanding the proof."

The deal the city struck is this: Orgaworld gets about $8 million a year and in return is supposed to process 80,000 tonnes of organic waste or kitchen scraps.

Except, nowhere near that amount is ending up at the facility, and the numbers are inflated by sending leaf and yard waste to the facility. In the past, that leaf and yard waste was processed at Train Road facility at a cheaper cost.